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With increased flak it has been getting from the
media, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has
embarked on an apparent makeover.
It is bringing in former Marcos
associate Rita Gaddi (formerly known as Rita Gaddi-Baltazar) to help
polish its image.
Surprising not a few observers,
Gaddi is being tapped to counteract the supposedly bad press that
the commission’s chairman, Camilo Sabio, and the agency have been
receiving.
Gaddi is reportedly waiting for
word from her US publishers on the release date of her book
Unmasking Imelda Marcos. Imelda Marcos is the widow of former
President Ferdinand Marcos, who fled with his family to Hawaii in
1986 after he was toppled by a “people power” revolt led by the
military. Gaddi joined them there and, later, Mrs. Marcos in the US
mainland during the former First Lady’s trial for corruption.
She won a Carlos Palanca Award in
1977 for her literary piece entitled Poems.
Gaddi, also a former news anchor
on the government television network Channel 4, is said to be part
of the group of Cherry Cobarrubias, who had parted ways with Mrs.
Marcos. She returned to the Philippines a few years ago and has
since accused the Marcoses of ingratitude, apparently referring to
their supposed disregard of the support that she had given them
during their forced exile in the United States.
The first inkling that she had
been tapped for the PCGG facelift surfaced when she attended a press
conference called by Sabio in February. There, the commission’s
chairman addressed all questions and allegations on the
controversial donation made by the Philippine Communications
Satellite Holdings Corp., or Philcomsat, to the agency’s Christmas
party in 2005.
Noting Gaddi’s presence during
the press conference, curious reporters started asking the
agency’s chief information officer, Nick Suarez, on the matter.
Suarez said the personnel and
Sabio’s office confirmed that Gaddi was hired as consultant in
mid-February, but he could not pointedly say if she was hired as a
media consultant.
When asked if reporters can be
provided with documents to show Gaddi’s contract details, such as
designation, scope of work, and compensation, Suarez said Sabio’s
office declined the request. He said, “It is enough that we [PCGG]
confirmed Gaddi’s hiring.”
Sabio was lately accused of
turning some companies that the commission had sequestered into a
“milking cow” of some commissioners. Last January 29, Sen. Juan
Ponce Enrile, in a privileged speech, brought up Philcomsat’s
controversial P1-million donation made to the Christmas party.
Sabio said he will order an
investigation of the matter. He added that Commissioner Nicasio
Conti was the chairman of the committee that organized the Christmas
party.
Lawyer Francis Villanueva,
Conti’s chief of staff, said the agency’s records showed that
the donation was made in 2004, not in 2005. He added that they were
puzzled why Sabio is linking Conti to the issue. Villanueva said
Conti was appointed a year after the donation was supposedly made.
Some employees of the commission
have accused Sabio of waging a personal vendetta against Conti. He
himself announced the supposed dismissal of Conti from the agency
for still unclear reasons during a press conference in December
2007.
In that press conference, Sabio
also disclosed the supposed reappointment of Commissioner William
Dichoso.
Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita, however, rebuked Sabio and said Conti remains as a
commissioner.
Conti is in the United Kingdom
for a three-month course on Public Sector Reform offered by the
Chevening Fellowship at Bradford Center for International
Development at the University of Bradford.
The squabble between Sabio and
Conti was said to have led Dichoso to file his irrevocable
resignation.
--Francis Earl A. Cueto
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